Oviedo- Woody Allen's favorite town.

Just a quick up-to-date comment before I begin back tracking into my winter travel. Today, I sang at the mall. Seriously. The group of musicians that I play with on Thursdays in the pub had a gig at Odeon, the mall in Ferrol, and they invited me to sing a song. Last night, they sent me "Pastures of Plenty," as sung by Solas, to learn before 6 pm today.

Click HERE! for a sample of the song, please disregard how goofy the video is!

Needless to say, it was not easy to memorize the five verse song.... fortunately, no one here speaks English, and when we performed, I made up much of it. So that was my afternoon. It was fun, but next time I'm going to be prepared....

Here's a quick video of the group, I didn't get the chance to get myself recorded, though.




My second up-to-date comment is that I've recently become obsessed with cabbage, and I hope that by blogging about it, I will inspire others to explore some new recipes with the delightfully underrated vegetable. Basically, after returning from Scotland this week, I am dirt broke until I get paid on Tuesday, and so have been living off of a head of green cabbage and another of purple cabbage, chicken broth, onions, garlic, sesame seeds, canned tuna, and eggs. I've eaten cabbage, of one color or another at least once or twice a day for the last week, and I have to admit, I love it. On Tuesday I made a chicken cabbage soup (it actually included broccoli and carrots as well, so I should have included those in my prior list as well I suppose), and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and today (Saturday) I have tried various stir fry combinations, none of which have disappointed.

Anyway, back to work.... We headed East on the very slow Fene train system, and it took us six hours.... a journey which would take two in a car. Woo! But it was beautiful, we curved along the coast and through the mountains of northern Galicia and Asturias.

We stayed in Oviedo for three days, and had originally intended to head to the Picos de Europa, but the mountains were covered in snow, and opted to return to Ferrol for a day, then head south. Oviedo is a town/city in Asturias that is famously the filming location of much of "Vicky, Christina Barcelona." Apparently it's also Woody Allen's favorite town in Spain. They even have a statue of the man. Along the coast at sunrise (which happened around 10 am...)
Some more countryside:
Here are a few shots from around town:

This is the main cathedral (mini) of the town. The stalls along the sides of the plaza are the epic Belen, or nativity scene that was set up. It was insanely detailed, and set up in perspective and everything.

They almost, kind of match up....

Couldn't resist taking a picture of the ladies in fur coats.






Another church in another square:

This was on the church face, it says "It's prohibited to play ball here." Probably referring to soccer. :-)

And the gorgeous medieval streets:


Yep, there are Vendettas everywhere...

Drainage.


There was a race... I took a picture. Not a benefit for anything, apparently just a New Years' tradition.


Kaydin, always with a camera in hand!

Park!

Anyway, New Years Eve we had dinner with two wonderful couchsurfers, and rang in the new year with the TV countdown. Apparently people don't count down in the central plaza usually, but tend to stay in for dinner, then go out after midnight (this is Spain, after all).

So, that was Oviedo, next up Portugal!